Plot
In Victorian times, the Grimbys blackmail Dolly Brown into a fraudulent act in a travelling fair, where she has to pretend to be a life-size doll. When Dolly is not playing the doll, the Grimbys use her as a half-starved slave. The Grimbys keep Dolly enslaved with a story and poster (only partly intact) that she is wanted by the police. Dolly has lost her memory, so she has no idea what happened there.
Notes
Appeared
- The Double Life of Coppelia Brown – Mandy: #128 (28 Jun 1969) – #138 (06 September 1969)
- Reprinted as The Double Life of Dolly Brown – Mandy: #482 (10 April 1976) – #492 (19 August 1976)
- Reprinted as The Double Life of Coppelia Brown -Mandy #818 (18 September 1982) – #828 (27 November 1982)
- Reprinted as The Double Life of Dolly Brown – Mandy #1188 (21 October 1989) – #1198 (30 December 1989)
- Reprinted as The Double Life of Dolly Brown(as Mandy Classic) – M&J: #297 (18 January 1997) – #307 (29 March 1997)
This serial was repeated in Mandy 818 (Sep. 18 1982) – 828 (Nov. 27 1982) as The Double Life Of Coppelia Brown.
Wonder why Mandy changed the title that way? It sounds a bit odd, a girl named Coppelia Brown. Or was that the name of the doll rather than the girl?
The idea for the serial is provided by Coppelia, a life-size doll in the ballet of the same name. At some point during that ballet a real young woman called Swanhilde dresses in Coppelia’s clothes and pretends that she is the doll come to life. However, in The Double Life Of Coppelia Brown there is no doll. Given that the original title was The Double Life Of Dolly Brown, it would just appear to be a case of being wise after the event.
Turns out the original title was actually The Double Life Of Coppelia Brown first printed in 1969, so it would seem that if they were originally inspired by the ballet, they decided to change it in the reprint, perhaps they thought readers wouldn’t get the reference.
Or maybe they thought Dolly would be more alliterative?
There would seem to be a glitch in the system because when I click on Double Life Of Coppelia Brown (the) in Mandy it throws up instead The Dark Secret Of Blind Bettina/The Lying Eyes Of Linda Lee. Double Life Of Dolly Brown (the) works fine.
Regarding that change of name from Coppelia to Dolly, I think it was an error of judgment. The original writer was perfectly entitled to assume that his/her readers would be likely to pick up the Coppelia ballet/doll reference.
This was also reprinted as “The Double Life of Dolly Brown ” in Mandy #1188 (October 21, 1989 – #1198 (December 30, 1989).
Thanks Ronnie, clearly a popular choice for reprinting!